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1,323 documents from Centre for Environmental Rights
FULL DISCLOSURE Fact Sheet
The document details the environmental failures of ArcelorMittal South Africa Ltd (AMSA) at its Vanderbijlpark facility, citing extensive air and water pollution, groundwater contamination, and a lack of transparency regarding climate risks. It highlights AMSA's status as one of South Africa's top 10 greenhouse gas emitters and its resistance to carbon taxes and air quality standards.
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Document type: Fact sheet
UPDATE ON THE PREFERRED BIDDERS UNDER THE FIRST BID WINDOW OF THE COAL BASELOAD IPP PROCUREMENT PROGRAMME AND THE PROPOSED THABAMETSI & KHANYISA COAL-FIRED POWER STATION
A letter from the Centre for Environmental Rights to the IPP Office of the Department of Energy requesting updates on the commercial and financial close deadlines for the Thabametsi and Khanyisa coal-fired power station projects, while asserting that neither project is currently capable of reaching such close due to outstanding licenses and pending litigation.
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Document type: Statement
APPEAL IN TERMS OF SECTION 43 OF THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ACT,1998 AGAINST THE ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORISATION ISSUED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF WATER AND SANITATION ON 15 MARCH 2019 FOR THE MOKOLO AND CROCODILE RIVER (WEST) AUGMENTATION PROJECT (PHASE 2A) (MCWAP-2A), WITHIN THE THABAZIMBI AND LEPHALALE LOCAL MUNICIPALITIES IN THE WATERBERG DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY, LIMPOPO PROVINCE
This document is a formal appeal submitted by the Centre for Environmental Rights on behalf of Earthlife Africa and groundWork to the Minister of Environmental Affairs. The appeal seeks to set aside an Environmental Authorisation granted on 15 March 2019 to the Department of Water and Sanitation for Phase 2A of the Mokolo and Crocodile River (West) Augmentation Project (MCWAP-2A). The appellants argue that the project is unnecessary, environmentally damaging, and based on outdated energy demand assumptions.
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Document type: Statement
RELEVANT INFORMATION IN RELATION TO ABSA GROUP LTDS ROLE IN FINANCING PROPOSED NEW COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS
The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) and groundWork have written to Absa Group Ltd to discourage the financing of proposed coal-fired independent power producers (IPPs), Thabametsi and Khanyisa. The letter argues that continuing to fund coal presents significant financial, reputational, and environmental risks, noting that other South African banks like Nedbank have already declined to finance these projects. Drawing on reports from the Institute for Energy, Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) and the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), the CER highlights a global trend of financial institutions divesting from thermal coal and warns that South Africa faces transition risks exceeding $120 billion by 2035. The document further dismisses the concept of "clean coal" as a myth and urges Absa to align its lending practices with a just transition to sustainable energy.
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Document type: Statement
DEA GHG Indicator Summary
The document is a data submission form from PPC South Africa detailing activity data and CO2e emissions for various fuel types and production processes for the 2018 calendar year. It lists emissions associated with Light Fuel Oil, Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO), Diesel, and Waste oils, as well as production calcination emissions related to non-metallic minerals such as cement, lime, and dolomite.
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Document type: Report
NATIONAL SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK
The Draft National Spatial Development Framework (NSDF) 2019 is a long-term strategic planning instrument for South Africa, mandated by the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA) and aligned with the National Development Plan (NDP). It aims to dismantle the spatial legacies of colonialism and apartheid by transitioning the country toward an integrated, inclusive, and sustainable national space economy by 2050.
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Document type: Report
LIFE AFTER COAL FACT SHEET AND TECHNICAL REPORT ON THE MYTH OF “CLEAN COAL”
The Centre for Environmental Rights asserts that "clean coal" technology is a misnomer used by vested interests to sustain the coal industry despite its severe environmental and health impacts. The letter argues that coal-fired power is unsustainable and that South Africa must transition to wind and solar power to meet global climate targets and avoid stranding its workforce.
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Document type: Statement
Eskom Power Station Exceedances of Applicable Atmospheric Emission License (AEL) Limit Values for PM, SO2 & NOx During April 2016 to December 2017
The report identifies 3,217 self-reported exceedances of AEL limits across 14 coal-fired power stations over a 21-month period. It highlights chronic pollution issues, particularly regarding particulate matter at stations without fabric filters, and criticizes the lack of electronic, standardized reporting.
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Document type: Report
Air quality and health impacts of ESKOM’s planned non-compliance with South African Minimum Emission Standards
The report finds that granting Eskom's requests for non-compliance with Minimum Emission Standards would lead to significant excess emissions of SO2, NOx, particulate matter, and mercury, resulting in an estimated 16,000 avoidable premature deaths across South Africa, with 3,100 of those in the Gauteng region.
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Document type: Research paper
APPLICATION FOR CHANGE IN LAND-USE (IN TERMS OF REGULATION 18 OF THE SPLUM REGULATIONS), IN RESPECT OF PORTION 1 OF YZERMYN 96 HT, IN THE DR PIXLEY KA ISAKA SEME LOCAL MUNICIPALITY AND THE GERT SIBANDE DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY, MPUMALANGA
The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) wrote to the Municipal Manager of the Dr Pixley Ka Isaka Seme Local Municipality on 15 March 2019 to request the status of a land-use change application for Portion 1 of Yzermyn 96 HT, following reports that a previous outcome was communicated erroneously.
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Document type: Statement
SUBMISSIONS ON ARCELORMITTAL VANDERBIJLPARK WORKS’ APPLICATION FOR A POSTPONEMENT AND ALTERNATIVE PLANT STANDARDS OF THE LISTED ACTIVITIES AND ASSOCIATED MINIMUM EMISSION STANDARDS
A formal submission by the Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA) and groundWork (gW) objecting to ArcelorMittal South Africa's (AMSA) application for postponements and alternative emission standards at its Vanderbijlpark Works facility.
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Document type: Statement
SUBMISSIONS ON ARCELORMITTAL VANDERBIJLPARK WORKS’ APPLICATION FOR A POSTPONEMENT AND ALTERNATIVE PLANT STANDARDS OF THE LISTED ACTIVITIES AND ASSOCIATED MINIMUM EMISSION STANDARDS
The document argues that AMSA's requests for emission standard postponements and alternative limits for hydrogen sulfide (H2S), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and hydrochloric acid (HCl) are unlawful and should be denied. The authors contend that the Vanderbijlpark Works is located in a non-compliant air quality priority area, that AMSA has failed to provide sufficient technical or economic justification for its requests, and that the company's history of non-compliance renders it unfit to receive such concessions.
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Document type: Statement
URGENT FOLLOW UP ON REQUEST FOR URGENT WITHDRAWAL OF THE PROVISION IN THE LIST OF ACTIVITIES REGARDING THE WEAKENING OF THE SULPHUR DIOXIDE NEW PLANT MINIMUM EMISSION STANDARDS FOR EXISTING PLANTS
The Centre for Environmental Rights, representing several environmental groups, is demanding the withdrawal of an amendment to the List of Activities that weakened sulphur dioxide minimum emission standards for existing plants. The groups argue the amendment was made without following legally-prescribed public participation procedures and threaten High Court litigation if the provision is not withdrawn by 12 March 2019.
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Document type: Statement
LIFE AFTER COAL RESPONSE TO RECENT STATEMENTS AROUND “CLEAN COAL”
The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), writing on behalf of the Life After Coal Campaign, challenges statements made by Minister Jeff Radebe regarding the viability of "clean coal" technologies. The CER asserts that "clean coal" is a misnomer and a myth, arguing that no technology can neutralize the environmental, health, and climate impacts of the entire coal cycle. The document advocates for a coal phase-out and a just transition to sustainable energy systems, citing declining coal employment and consumption in South Africa as evidence of an inevitable shift. It emphasizes that achieving the IPCC's 1.5 degree Celsius target requires drastic CO2 reductions, which necessitates moving away from coal toward socially-owned renewable energy projects.
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Document type: Statement
The Black Eagle Project Roodekrans v MEC for the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, Gauteng Provincial Government and others
This case study details a legal challenge by The Black Eagle Project Roodekrans against the MEC for the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, Gauteng Provincial Government, regarding land use exemptions and environmental authorisations near the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden.
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Document type: Case study
Review of a Report Providing Health Impact Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) of Eskom activities
The review concludes that the Eskom report significantly underestimates the health impacts and economic benefits of pollution abatement due to flawed modelling, incorrect response function selection, and an inappropriately high discount rate. The reviewers estimate that the benefits of action would exceed costs by a factor of 5 or more, which would reverse the original conclusions of the Eskom CBA.
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Document type: Report
Gloucester Resources Limited v Minister of Planning
The New South Wales Court of Appeal upheld the Minister of Planning's decision to refuse the Rocky Hill Coal Project proposed by Gloucester Resources Limited, citing significant negative impacts on land use, society, and the climate.
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Document type: Case study
SUBMISSIONS ON ESKOM’S APPLICATION FOR SUSPENSION, ALTERNATIVE LIMITS AND/OR POSTPONEMENT OF COMPLIANCE WITH THE MINIMUM EMISSION STANDARDS FOR 10 OF ITS COAL-FIRED POWER STATIONS
The Life After Coal campaign argues that Eskom's applications to delay or suspend compliance with Minimum Emission Standards (MES) are unlawful under the 2017 National Framework for Air Quality Management. The campaign asserts that the required condition for such applications—that the surrounding area be in compliance with National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)—is not met in the Highveld Priority Area (HPA) or Vaal Triangle Airshed Priority Area (VTAPA). Furthermore, the document highlights severe health impacts, claiming that excess emissions could result in approximately 23,000 premature deaths. It criticizes Eskom's decommissioning schedules as vague and its air quality offset programs as ineffective, while providing international benchmarks to refute Eskom's claims that retrofitting older plants is infeasible.
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Document type: Statement
PETITION TO BE GRANTED INTERVENER STATUS IN RE: APPEAL BY THE PRACTICE GROUP (PTY) LTD (ON BEHALF OF ATHA VENTURES AFRICA (PTY) LTD) AGAINST THE DECISION OF THE JOINT MUNICIPAL PLANNING TRIBUNAL SITTING IN THE APPLICATION FOR CHANGE IN LAND-USE (IN TERMS OF REGULATION 18 OF THE SPLUM REGULATIONS) IN RESPECT OF PORTION 1 OF YZERMYN 96 HT, IN THE DR PIXLEY KA ISAKA SEME LOCAL MUNICIPALITY AND THE GERT SIBANDE DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY, MPUMALANGA
A petition submitted by eight civil society organisations, represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), seeking intervener status in an appeal by the Practice Group (Pty) Ltd on behalf of Atha-Africa Ventures (Pty) Ltd. The appeal concerns a land-use change application for Portion 1 of Yzermyn 96 HT in the Dr Pixley Ka Isaka Seme Local Municipality, Mpumalanga, to transition the land from agriculture to mining.
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Document type: Statement
YZERMYN 96 REGISTRATION DIVISION HT: PORTION 1, MPUMALANGA PROVINCE APPLICATION FOR A CHANGE IN LAND USE NOTICE OF APPEAL
A notice of appeal filed on 8 January 2019 by a mining company against a decision by the Dr. Pixley Ka Isaka Seme Local Municipality's Joint Municipal Planning Tribunal. The Tribunal had dismissed the company's land use application on the grounds of lack of locus standi. The appellant argues that the decision ignored national law (SPLUMA) and violated procedural fairness under PAJA.
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Document type: Statement